Fujitsu Siemens ships world's first zero-watt monitor

It's been a solid tick since we've seen a new monitor from Fujitsu Siemens, but apparently it's been spending a lot of time on its SCENICVIEW Premium Line ECO range. Announced today, the 20-inch P20W-5 ECO and the 22-inch P22W-5 ECO are being hailed as the planet's first to feature power supplies that "automatically switch off completely in power-save mode." The whole zero-watt bit comes from their ability to suck down precisely no power when not in use, while the majority of LCDs continue to draw slivers of energy even in standby. Furthermore, the new devices include the DisplayView AutoBright functionality, which automatically adjusts brightness "in harmony with ambient light" in order to net even greater power savings. Both screens are available now in Europe starting at €419 ($625), though 24- and 26-inch models are arriving next month.

[Via BIOS]

[Techie @ Aug 13th 2008 10:06AM]

Amazing....

[tom @ Aug 13th 2008 10:44AM]

internal battery?

[Techie @ Aug 13th 2008 10:58AM]

Too bad the price is too deep for my pocket.

[Nick @ Aug 13th 2008 10:06AM]

Why does the zero look like it was pasted on as a correction at a later date? What does it originally say underneath?

[dj cubicle @ Aug 13th 2008 10:24AM]

My guess is that image came from an animated graphic where it counted down to zero.

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 13th 2008 11:03AM]

-50W
The screen doubles as a solar panel, generating sufficient power to recharge your Tesla.

[linuxamp @ Aug 13th 2008 11:39PM]

Giga

[blacklistxhunter @ Aug 13th 2008 10:07AM]

"zero-watt moniker"

-_-?

[Giles @ Aug 13th 2008 10:14AM]

If you're thinking it's a mistake, it's not. Moniker means name or nickname.

[Blayed @ Aug 13th 2008 10:11AM]

I've never had a problem simply hitting the power button on my "moniker" when I leave my computer.

[NT @ Aug 13th 2008 10:14AM]

Even when turned off most displays still suck up energy. This is why they say to unplug them to save more energy.

[Blayed @ Aug 13th 2008 10:17AM]

The displays don't chug energy when turned off, only when in standby mode.

[kjb434 @ Aug 13th 2008 10:24AM]

This monitor is still using power, its just found a way to make its usage smaller than the device is able to read it......

[Macro @ Aug 13th 2008 10:59AM]

Yes even when its turned off your monitor is sucking juice, all ac to dc converters do.

[CosterMonger @ Aug 13th 2008 2:15PM]

do you have a problem flicking the switch on the Surge Protector or UPS?
because that's the way I turn off standby power on most of my electronics
10 devices with red lites suck ~1W each on even when I'm not using them 87.6kWh in a year, kind of adds up.

[BigD145 @ Aug 13th 2008 3:04PM]

All electronics suck some power when "off." CRT's use about half as much power OFF as they do ON. It's best to just have your TV's, monitor's, and wall warts on a power bar so you can flip a switch or two when not using such items.

[linuxamp @ Aug 13th 2008 11:42PM]

Feel your power block. Is it warm? Then it's getting the heat energy from somewhere right?

The term is vampire energy. Read this.

http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/008/trans008vampireenergy.html

[David @ Aug 13th 2008 10:11AM]

what about the power brick? I assume that still chugs along nicely by itself?

[meh @ Aug 13th 2008 10:15AM]

So, does it suck its standby 5W from DVI? -)

[slarity @ Aug 13th 2008 10:33AM]

I dont understand how this is special, seriously all displays should be able to do this, I know they dont but come on.

We have all this technology and we cant make something not use electricty when its off...

[John @ Aug 13th 2008 10:40AM]

By having devices draw that small amount of standby power, they turn back to full functionality faster.

[Anthony @ Aug 13th 2008 10:45AM]

Unfortunately no one seems to have spent any dev time on it. I avoid it by having all my computer bits on a special power strip. When the computer registers off on the strip it shuts down completely all the other peripherals.

[James @ Aug 13th 2008 10:36AM]

So how much more energy does it use to produce such monitors compared to standard ones eh?

[Reader @ Aug 13th 2008 1:52PM]

This argument really only applies entirely to fossil fuel devices which improving them is only short term. In this case, even if it took more energy currently, in the long run it would become easier to produce and the net energy saved would outweigh the original investment if all monitors/devices began to use whatever this is.

[hello45044 @ Aug 13th 2008 10:37AM]

I can unplug my monitor and make it run at 0 watts. Lets see one tat runs at 0 watts while its ON.

[Benson @ Aug 13th 2008 12:17PM]

That would be... e-ink?

[John Z @ Aug 13th 2008 10:50AM]

Probably uses an internal capacitor or battery to accomplish this. I can get behind the idea, especially since electricity is getting expensive (had a $200 bill this past month, but most of that was A/C).

[xeijix @ Aug 13th 2008 10:55AM]

Most of the time, for devices that can turn on quickly even from a cold start, standby has no purpose. The only reason why they continue to draw power isn't so that it can turn on quicker than from a cold start, but because of a limitation in the components used. When we think of turning on any device we either think of flipping a switch or pressing a button. With flipping a switch, we physically close the circuit, thus before we turn it on, it was using zero energy. But with pressing a button, the button does not close the circuit, it merely sends a signal to a functioning circuit telling it to start drawing more power to turn on the device; thus, a device that relies on a button press to turn on is always drawing power, it just so happens that the monitoring circuit draws less power.

[Benson @ Aug 13th 2008 12:27PM]

I'll preface this with a disclaimer: I have no clue how their system works, so what I'm describing is not intended to be a description of their system...

But... it's trivial to switch AC on with a button. Use a multipole relay with AC coil to switch the AC on; the button pulls in the contacts while it's held in, and use one pole of the relay to keep the contacts in as long as they're in, _and_ a second, DC-coil relay (for switching it off) is not actuated.

Now if the button is 2-pole, with 1 for AC (for powering on) and the other used to signal a microcontroller when the system is on, the microcontroller can then pull the second relay out, disconnecting power. Functionally, this button is now acting like a normal, always-power-consuming power button.

Why isn't this in everything?
Let's see:

* Single-pole pushbutton interfaced to microcontroller.

---- vs. ----

* Double-pole pushbutton, must be rated for mains voltage.
* Double-pole relay, mains voltage coil.
* Single-pole relay, 12VDCish coil.

Betcha can't guess which one is cheaper.

[Andrew @ Aug 13th 2008 2:57PM]

As an electrical engineer, I'd say yes, you can simply put a passive analog circuit that will be connected to DVI or whatever input and turn on a latch relay once there's power (latch so it doesn't even have to use power in either turned on or off mode, you flip it by inverting voltage bias and can stop powering it after a second). I had designed some battery powered audio circuits that used these relays. It's really pretty basic stuff. The reason it's not used is probably exactly as you said - relays, even the cheapest ones, cost money. More than a bunch of digital components, plus they are mechanical components and take space plus are less reliable (though relays are pretty reliable stuff in general).

[YOO. @ Aug 13th 2008 10:56AM]

I just noticed that the monitor is OFF.

[Tom @ Aug 14th 2008 2:51AM]

That would be the point. When the monitor is off, it consumes 0W. It represents a desire for hardware manufacturers to drastically reduce power draw from devices that are off - this particular example is a near-elimination of vampire electricity.

[Macro @ Aug 13th 2008 11:00AM]

I can't believe this monitor costs so much its not even a good brand or a good size. Lame

[jorvay @ Aug 13th 2008 1:26PM]

Over-priced? You bet.
Not a good brand? You've clearly never used Fujitsu's stuff.

[Jason @ Aug 13th 2008 11:06AM]

So basically, as long as it's off, this monitor doesn't suck. That's pretty cool.

[Xenoterranos @ Aug 13th 2008 11:06AM]

I want to see the decimal at the end of that line of zeros moved a few zeros to the left, then we'll see about "zero watt" usage.

[farfisa @ Aug 13th 2008 11:10AM]

Pay more to save energy I didn't even know I was wasting? Hell yeah!

[Maintz @ Aug 13th 2008 11:25AM]

I hope Fujitsu's new monitors fare better than their plasma screens,.....
we purchased a Fujitsu plasma TV, model #P50XHA10U from Good Guy Electronics (now defunct) in July 2003. The set came with a three year factory warranty, and we bought a one-year extension of that warranty. We had it repaired for the identical problem (upper half of display goes black) in Sept 2005, Nov 2005 and Aug 2007. In Aug 2008, the problem is back. I've asked Fujitsu to offer some relief on the costs of repair, or credit towards a set that doesn't have a record of factory defects. They responded that the unit is out of warranty. Worst, they have closed their "display" division and no longer produce plasma or other TVs.
My contention is simple,... although the TV is tehnically out of warranty, it had an apparently incurable factory defect since it was in warranty that still isn't resolved. Fujitsu should be willing to make-good some of the original purchase price ($12,000) and costs of repairs along the way ($900 for 3 repair episodes), but they won't. BUYER BEWARE!!

[Shaggy Pooh @ Aug 13th 2008 11:17AM]

How about adding a switch to the back of the monitor that interrupts the power cable? That would be a lot cheaper.

[Kai @ Aug 13th 2008 12:56PM]

From the linked article:
"draw no power when not in use - as the DC power converter shuts down completely"
"When the monitor powers down, it triggers the power supply to totally disconnect from the mains. When the PC next sends output to the monitor, a small electrical pulse restores display power. This function works with analogue and digital monitor outputs."

I think I read from somewhere else that the monitor is using some sort of relay (electrical switch that opens and closes under the control of another electrical circuit). There are no internal batteries...

Anyway this monitor is probably targeted at enterprise users... the power savings are probably more significant when you have an entire office having these monitors.

[Rick @ Aug 13th 2008 1:31PM]

Watt's that you say?

[nathan.wong @ Aug 13th 2008 2:16PM]

What happened to the old days when OFF meant OFF and no power going to the unit? Why must we always have a "standby" mode? Is it so they can have that little blue LED lit at all times?

[ChrisM @ Aug 13th 2008 2:34PM]

In other news, a new car that gets infinite miles to the gallon when off.... and if you park it in the same place you left it, no "work" was done. Very efficient.

[Dee @ Aug 13th 2008 2:47PM]

The title had me there for a second - a monitor that uses no power? The I read the article. Cool that they've created the technology to do this, just looking forward to when this becomes standard in all devices and doesn't affect price.

[pfromg @ Aug 14th 2008 3:27AM]

I think many of you are missing the point.

Many users, (especially in offices) leave computers and or monitors on when they go to lunch or nock off for the day.When these computers go into standby, so will the monitors they are attached to. A monitor in standby will still use 1 to 10 watts depending on model. This particular monitor will use 0 watts.
However, the individual savings do not merit the extra cost even with todays silly electricity prices. For this price the monitor needs to be very efficient when being used, which it is not.

On the other hand, If Fujitsu Siemens where a start up with this patent, I would want to buy shares.The idea of getting zero watt standby tech in every household device is mouthwatering.